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Around the world, it seems that Pope Francis’ call for the church to apologize to LGBT people is meeting with mixed reactions from the LGBT community itself. While some find the pope’s statement to be lip-service at best, others find a great deal of hope in it.

Critics have questioned what credibility apologies might possess without action, or even admission of underlying problems. Jamie Manson, books editor for the National Catholic Reporter, commented on Facebook:

“The pope wants the church to apologize to gay people for marginalizing them, while also upholding the Catechism’s teaching on homosexuality. You can’t apologize to people and simultaneously reassert the doctrine that harms them. That’s just dysfunctional, if not downright abusive.”

Other Catholics responded more positively, welcoming Pope Francis’ call, but request actions to back his words. Quest, a group for LGBT Catholics in the U.K., released a statement calling the pope’s remarks “a major turning point” in how the church treats lesbian and gay people.

The statement continued:

“Words of apology however, are not enough. Pope Francis has acknowledged the harm that has been done by the Church in the past. As Fr James Martin SJ has observed in a [Facebook] post, this harm is real and deep, and for many LGBT Catholics, it is not just a matter of the past, but continues, even today. Hurt and wounds require healing. A closing resolution of the 2015 Family Synod resolved that special pastoral attention needs to be given to families with lesbian or gay people. Such families certainly include those headed by lesbian and gay people themselves.”